Alabama House approves plan for lottery, gambling at 7 sites

The Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday night approved a compromise plan for a lottery and other state-regulated gambling in Alabama, moving the legislation one step away from going to voters to have the final say.

The House approved HB151, a constitutional amendment, by a vote of 72-29. It required at least 63 votes. A few minutes later, the House passed HB152, the second bill in the package that spells out some of the specifics in the plan, by a vote of 70-29.

The two bills go next to the Senate, which could approve them and send a proposed constitutional amendment to the ballot for a special election on Aug. 20.

Alabama voters last had a chance to vote on a lottery in 1999.

The plan authorizes a lottery with the proceeds going to educational purposes. It authorizes gambling on electronic machines at seven locations – former greyhound tracks in Jefferson, Mobile, Macon, and Greene counties, plus at what are now bingo halls in Greene, Houston, and Lowndes counties. There would be no table games, such as blackjack or craps.

The plan calls for the governor to negotiate a compact with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians for gambling on tribal lands in Atmore, Wetumpka, and Montgomery.

The plan does not include sports betting, which was part of an earlier plan passed by the House, but was not in the Senate’s plan.

It would create an Alabama Gambling Commission that would regulate and enforce gambling laws statewide. It would repeal 17 local amendments that allow bingo in specific counties effective September 2026. And it would prohibit future local amendments.

It would allow traditional paper bingo and raffles, all regulated by the new gambling commission.

The two bills, HB151 and HB152, were approved earlier Tuesday by a conference committee of three representatives and three senators. The conference committee was appointed after the House and Senate passed much different versions of the plan back in February and March.

“We’re never going to have 100% what everybody wants,” said Rep. Chip Brown, a Republican from Mobile County. “This is about as good a bill as we’re ever going to get. I think it’s time. 1999 was way too long.”

Alabama is one of five states that do not have lotteries. The four states that border Alabama have lotteries.

Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, said she sometimes buys lottery tickets when the jackpots get large.

“I get in the car and drive myself up to the Tennessee line, and I think about how many young people I’m helping in Tennessee when I could be helping them in Alabama,” Hall said.

Hall said people in her district want a chance to vote on a lottery.